Method and Apparatus for Gesture Manipulation Across Multiple Devices

1. At least one apparatus comprising: at least one detection unit configured to perform at least one detecting operation of at least one manipulating object moved across at least two display screens of at least two apparatuses of said at least one apparatus; and at least one determining unit configured to determine a function to be performed by said at least two apparatuses, based on a path and number of the at least one manipulating object moved across said at least two display screens detected by the detection unit to establish a user level communication protocol between said at least two apparatuses, wherein: said at least one manipulation object comprises multiple fingers on a human hand, said function is determined based on the path and number of the manipulating objects comprises to be a first function if one finger is used and a second function if two fingers are used, the first function is moving landscape pictures from one apparatus to another apparatus of said at least one apparatus, and the second function is moving both landscape and people pictures from one apparatus to another of said at least one apparatus.

2. The at least one apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one determining unit determines a relative arrangement of said at least two apparatuses to at least one of establish and confirm the user level communication protocol between said at least two apparatuses, based on the path of the at least one manipulating object detected by at least two detection units of said at least one detection unit.

3. The at least one apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one detection unit detects a trail input on at least one of said at least two display screens according to the operation of the at least one manipulating object.

4. The at least one apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising: at least one obtaining unit configured to obtain trail data representing the path of the at least one manipulating object detected by said at least one apparatus.

5. The at least one apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising: at least one storage unit configured to store the trail data obtained by the at least one obtaining unit.

6. The at least one apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one determining unit sorts based on time the trail data stored in the at least one storage unit, and wherein the at least one determining unit of one of the at least two apparatuses determines whether the at least one storage unit of said one of the at least two apparatuses stores data of another apparatus of the at least two apparatuses as part of establishing the user level communication protocol between said at least two apparatuses.

7. The at least one apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one obtaining unit obtains trail start data including the input start region and the input start time and the trail end data including the input end region and the input end time, the trail start data and the trail end data being detected by at least two apparatuses of said at least one apparatus.

8. The at least one apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one storage unit stores the trail start data and the trail end data obtained by the at least one obtaining unit.

9. The at least one apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein if the number of apparatuses of said at least one apparatus establishing the user level communication protocol is already known, the determining unit makes a determination as follows: in the trail start data and the trail end data sorted based on time, the trail end region of the trail end data stored equals the number of apparatuses of said at least one apparatus, and if the number of pieces of stored data corresponds to the number of apparatuses of said at least one apparatus, the at least one determining unit determines that the trail start data and the trail end data are data representing a relative orientation of the at least two apparatuses as part of establishing the user level communication protocol between said at least two apparatuses.

10. The at least one apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein if the number of apparatuses of the at least one apparatus establishing the user level communication protocol is unknown, the at least one determining unit makes a determination as follows: in the trail start data and the trail end data sorted based on time, a time difference between an input start time of a predetermined terminal of said at least one apparatus and an input end time of another terminal of said at least one apparatus is calculated, and if a time difference between the input start time of the predetermined terminal and another input end time whose data are located adjacently is determined to be a minimum and the time difference is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, then the determining unit determines that the trail start data and the trail end data are data representing a relative orientation of said at least two apparatuses if the trail end region of the trail end data stored at the last is a region representing an end of the trail input performed with the at least one manipulating object.

11. The at least one apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one detection unit detects an input start region from which input is started and an input end region at which the input is finished, the input being performed with the at least one manipulating object onto at least one of said at least two display screens.

12. The at least one apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the at least one detection unit detects an input start time when input is started and an input end time when the input is finished, the input being performed with the at least one manipulating object onto at least one of said at least two display screens.

13. The at least one apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the detection unit uses at least one of a touch panel of a capacitance method and an infrared method to detect operation performed with the at least one manipulating object on said at least one apparatus.

14. The at least one apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one apparatus is three or more devices.

15. The at least one apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the path of the at least one manipulation object is across said at least three devices.

16. The at least one apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the user-level communication protocol comprises a transmission and storage of at least one selected data file between said at least two apparatuses for future use of said at least one selected data file.

17. The at least one apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said at least one selected data file comprises at least one of: picture data; moving picture data; audio data; personal identification data; financial data; text data; and security data.

18. The at least one apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said computer level communication protocol comprises at least one of: an infrared communication protocol; a wireless LAN communication protocol; a cellular communication protocol; and short range wireless communication protocol.

19. A method comprising the steps of: detecting at least one manipulating object on at least two display screens to establish a user level communication protocol between at least two apparatuses; and determining a function to be performed by the at least two apparatuses, based on a detected path and number of the at least one manipulating object moved across said at least two display screens to establish the user level communication protocol between said at least two apparatuses, wherein: said at least one manipulation object comprises multiple fingers on a human hand, said function is determined based on the path and number of the manipulating objects comprises to be a first function if one finger is used and a second function if two fingers are used, the first function is moving landscape pictures from one apparatus to another apparatus of said at least one apparatus, and the second function is moving both landscape and people pictures from one apparatus to another of said at least one apparatus.

20. The method of claim 19 , where the method is embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, which causes the method to be executed in a computer.